Friday 15th June 2012

by chel

prayer flags at Disney

Sherilee, who is made of awesomeness, posted a few questions and tagged a few bloggers to answer them. I was delighted to be chosen. Of course, I had to mull over the answers for longer than necessary, but here they are!

1. What would you pick as a major, if you could go back to college and do it again?The very first thing that popped into mind (and heart) was Transpersonal Psychology, which is defined as “a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience.”
Which means I wouldn’t be going back to Emory, unless they allowed me to sort of focus on that within the limits of a psychology degree.

More significantly, it also means that I’ve sort of finally released the death-grip on the idea of becoming a curator, since museum studies wasn’t near the top of my list. (In-ter-es-ting…)

To be honest, I’d love to go back to school for this program. Maybe someday.2. Who is the one celebrity with whom you would most like to have an indepth conversation?This is tough. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I would most like to sit down and have a chat with someone who could teach me something, enlighten me. I don’t know who that is, really. Or maybe someone who asks really good questions.

Then there is my Secret Celebrity Crush. I’d very much like to be friends (yes, just friends! twenty years and Tom has mellowed the “crush” part of this person’s appeal to me) with him so a conversation would be lovely.

And, of course, Craig Ferguson. He’s so funny, but he’s also very, very intelligent. I love it when people make me laugh and make me think at the same time.

3. If you could make a living doing ANYthing, what would that be?
Exactly what I do now- writing, gardening, creating, tending, curating, art journaling…- I just want it to have a tiny bit more structure. I love writing, and I love writing about gardening and spirituality and art.

I’d love to make art for people. But not too custom, because I did graphic design and then custom jewelry for a while, and it really dampened my creativity. Ideally I’d like to create a weekly *something*, jewelry, a painting, something…. and then have it go on Etsy and then start my next project. A set release date once a week.

4. What’s your all-time very favorite dessert?I love Black and White cookies. I also love brownies- the fudgier, the better, but they have to have that sort or crumbly, finely-crunchy top to it, you know what I mean? Then there is red velvet cake.

The pecan bars at Tusker House at Disney- I normally HATE nuts, but those are amazing. Or a seriously thick vanilla shake…

The dessert I splurge on most often, though, is a big cup of frozen yogurt. Preferably coffee flavored.

5. How many pairs of jeans do you own?
One. One pair of bootcut jeans. I went to private school most of my life, no jeans allowed. After the strict dress code I had, when I was in college, I was all about comfort. Jeans were never comfortable to me. They were thick and had seams all over and made me feel like the clothes were sort of wearing me. I guess I never owned a properly broken-in pair of jeans, but mine were always thick and stiff.

Then I moved here to Florida where it’s *HOT* all the time, so jeans were never part of my life story. I do like them when it’s cold out, though. I’m totally a skirt/dress kinda girl.

The funny thing is that we got Gracie an itty-bitty pair of jeans when she was a toddler (so cute!) and when we weren’t looking, she THREW THEM OUT. We fished them out, and washed them, and put them back into her dresser, but she hated them and refuses to wear them to this day. Even the black velvet jeans I got her got shuffled to the back of the closet. She’s a total skirt/sundress girl, too.

6. What is your favorite flower, and why?
Yikes. How am I supposed to answer this? It’s like asking a mother which child is her favorite. Right now my favorite flower *to smell* is Gardenia. I dream of planting Peonies and Rananculus and Jasmine. I love LARGE flowers, too.

7. What book has most changed your life?I am so tempted to say which book has influenced my life in the most *negative* way, but I’ll be polite and not go there.

I think that Elizabeth Berg’s books as a whole have changed my life. There’s something about the simple beauties of life in them that I have always connected with. Even before I understood what being mindful and grateful truly meant, her characters always have sparks of that. And the way she writes, the reader gets to takes part in that little bit magical everyday awareness…

8. What is your least favorite vegetable? Is there any way you can be persuaded to eat it?
I’m a super picky eater so there are MANY answers to this. But, to be honest, I’ll eat ANY vegetable as long as it’s nicely prepared and not too spicy. Raw tomato squicks me out, although I will gladly eat one in a good salad, as long as it’s sort of dressed well and hidden. But maybe I’ve never had a great tomato, because I know so many people that say a fresh ripe tomato straight off the vine is the best thing on the planet. Just something about it… ick!

9. If you could take a nonstop first class flight to any destination, where would you pick to land?
Probably New Zealand. I’m not a big traveler, nor do I have wanderlust, but something about New Zealand calls to me. I have also had dreams of flying straight south, over the south pole, and discovering a *different* set of continents than the ones that are actually there. I can’t get that dream out of my head, so I really want to go there, even though it doesn’t exist.

10. If your 15 minutes of fame included a stint on American Idol, what song would be your trademark solo?“Riverwide” by Sheryl Crow. Something about that song does something to me, very very deep inside. It always has.

My favorite song to sing, though, is “Coast” by Paul Simon.

11. If you could pick one former friend (who has remained elusive in this wild Facebook world) to reunite with, who would you unearth?Ed Rhee, although the last time we spoke I told him I never wanted to talk to him again. And I meant it- I was crushed at the time. He was a good friend of mine in college and his friendship and support got me through SO much. In the last years of our friendship, we conflicted on so many silly things. It almost got too emotional to watch our friendship self-destruct in super slow motion, so I think I might have forced an ending to it. I hope he’s doing okay, no matter what he thinks of me.

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ANYWAY, I have a post up over at Sprout, about the value of “puttering”. I am becoming a little in love with the idea of doing more puttering, to be honest. Slowing down, being mindful, seeing what needs tending to and what makes *sense* in the moment as opposed to charing into all situations with a gameplan. It might be a good way to approach summer…

Completely selfish of me, but I just love getting those questions answered!! I feel like I get these windows into fellow bloggers, and it makes me happy to learn new stuff. Thank you so much for indulging me and playing along.

LOVED, loved, loved this q & a with you, Chel… such fun to have this peek behind the scenes with you. And that image of the prayer flags at Disney is wonderful. Have a great week, my friend :o) ((HUGS))

Random facts: I grew up in New York (Long Island, to be specific), went to college and grad school in Atlanta, and now I live in Southwest Florida. I'm incredibly shy but I can be very chatty. I've been a vegetarian for 25 years. I swim five miles every day. I have an eight year old daughter and a 40-something year old husband. I'd rather eat kalamata olives than most anything, and I'm an AVID tea drinker. I exist with the steady background noise of meows (three cats), chirps and whistles (three parrots), and silence (an elderly gecko).